Joy of Life

Vice-Deputy Lin Jing and Lin Wen felt uneasy outside the door. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Fan Xian return. They snuck along the wall and made their way in front of everyone, explaining: “Someone, we don’t know who, leaked out a part of the negotiation. Now the people of Shangjing all are upset because they found out Northern Qi is going to give up land. While the ordinary civilian dared not to do anything, those young nobles did come forward asking to challenge us southerners in martial arts.”

Fan Xian was somewhat taken aback. The Imperial court of Northern Qi would definitely not tell the negotiations regarding captives and land to everyone. Then who did? It seemed like that young emperor wasn’t exactly living a leisurely life. But now Fan Xian had no time to care about his number one fan. With a headache, he stared at the knives on the ground and said, “Take care of this on your own, I’m going to visit their Board of Rites in a bit.”

Even though he let the right subordinates take care of various affairs, such as dealing with the captives, redrawing the borders, and exchanging letters of credence, Fan Xian insisted on handling the Yan Bingyun matter himself.

“Sir, you must not leave.” The Lin brothers were stereotypical civil officials; seeing knives fly in the heart of a foreign nation scared them senseless. They were afraid of those young nobles stirring up trouble again if Fan Xian were to leave now. After all, the Tiger Guards, who were the strongest in the envoy, would naturally follow Fan Xian, and the strong ones in various disguises from the Overwatch Council only listened to Commissioner Fan.

Fan Xian frowned and looked at the two in slight annoyance. “As Qing officials, you should calm yourselves a bit unless you want to embarrass our nation. As for those troublemakers, Northern Qi arranged guards for us. Would those guards just let them in?”

“The point is...” Of the two brothers, Lin Jing was more familiar with Fan Xian and didn’t mind speaking more directly. “...those people are here for you. If you avoid them, I’m afraid these northerners will think of us Qing as cowards.”

That was somewhat biting to say. Laughing, Fan Xian scolded Lin Jing and then told him, “Even if they are here to bring me trouble, I’m sure they are just some bookworms. Sir Lin, you once scored third on the civil service exam, just say something to them and get over it.”

Suddenly, Fan Xian discovered Northern Qi’s assigned palace guards had strange expressions, while Gao Da already had his hand on the hilt of his blade.

Fan Xian turned around and discovered another group had arrived. Leading that group was a young aristocrat looking up at the sky. As Fan Xian had already acknowledged them, nobody went out to stop the group. So the young noble was able to walk right up to Fan Xian and deliver a punch.

The fist was fat and had no strength. It was very irritating.

Without hesitation, Fan Xian returned a slap. His overpowering zhenqi was unique in this world. Under Wu Zhu’s teachings, Fan Xian’s timing was world-class. This one slap raised knife-like winds, pierced through the air, and slammed down onto the young noble’s fist viciously.

Fan Xian had acted reserved and obedient in front of Haitang because Haitang was too powerful. When it came to actual martial arts, Fan Xian ranked as one of the most talented practitioners among his generation. However, since his opponent this time was too young, Fan Xian wasn’t planning on injuring the young aristocrat.

He was probably around ten years old. Fan Xian’s slap forced him on his buttocks, causing him to cry out in pain. Since Fan Xian looked like a weak scholar, the young noble probably wasn’t expecting to be knocked down by one blow. He stared at Fan Xian and cursed out, “Curse your mother! These southern barbarians are mad!”

Fan Xian, who was about to go back inside, stopped.

He grinned and returned to the young noble. He held up the boy’s wrist. The boy’s bodyguard, although nervous, paid the simple gesture no mind. Believing Fan Xian to be just an entourage of Southern Qing’s envoy, the bodyguard spat out some harsh words.

Next came the sound of a torn joint, followed by a scream of pain and then enraged outbursts.

“Had my mother heard you, she’d probably rip you apart alive,” Fan Xian thought. Letting go, he stared at the boy on the ground. Judging by the fact that Northern Qi’s palace guards dared not do anything, there must be someone high-ranking in that boy’s family.

The boy’s bodyguards and servants gathered around. Looking at their young master crying and holding onto his limp wrist, they discovered that Fan Xian had broken it in a despicable move! Unable to hold back their anger, they stood up, ready to teach Fan Xian a lesson.

Seeing that things were getting out of hand, the palace guards hurried to separate the two sides, trying to mediate the matter. The Qi side would not stop spewing out curses about the southern barbarians.

Fan Xian pulled Lin Jing over. “Whose brat was that?”

“The young master of Chang Anhou’s household.” Lin Wen was very familiar with Shangjing’s politics and rushed in to answer.

Fan Xian was slightly startled after hearing the name Chang Anhou. It reminded him of Chang Ninghou, whom he had had a drinking contest with. “Is he also a brother of the empress dowager? The one who got sent home after last year’s defeat? Chang Ninghou’s younger brother?”

Lin Wen nodded, “Chang Anhou was relieved of power due to last year’s defeat. But this year, under the empress dowager’s order, he resumed power and regained his former arrogance. I suspect this young lad here wanted to take advantage of the chaos and take revenge against Qing.”

“Stupid brat.” Fan Xian shook his head. Without even looking back at the mess, he was ready to go back inside.

“You think you can just leave after what you’ve done?” someone yelled out angrily. “How dare you hurt our Young Master Hou!”

The commander of the palace guards had gotten the situation under control and wasn’t expecting Fan Xian to leave without saying a single word. Such an unjustifiable act even made that commander upset. “You Southern Qing are too arrogant,” he thought to himself.

Fan Xian slowly turned around and said to the crowd of Northern Qi, “Everyone, look carefully. This young man here sneak-attacked me. I didn’t know he was only a child, so I didn’t hold back. I will send some of my people to Hou Manor to pay for medicine later. Is there any need to squabble about this any further?”

Beating someone up then offering to pay for medical costs was a classic rich-kid tactic. But the problem was that Fan Xian was the head diplomat of Qing, and the rich kid was the boy of Northern Qi. The crowd wasn’t buying it

Fan Xian raised his eyebrows and said to the commander of the palace guards, “Commander Wei, do you wish to see this envoy go at it with Qi civilians? Do you want another battle between our two nations?”

Commander Wei felt a chill. He knew things wouldn’t get that out of hand, but if Fan Xian really were to be attacked by an angry mob, it would be a diplomatic incident, and he, being in charge of guard duty, would be responsible. So the commander hurried to block the people from Hou Manor. Fan Xian went back inside and shut the front gate.

Now the mob realized Fan Xian was the head diplomat of the barbaric southern envoy. Seeing him duck inside immediately triggered a barrage of insults and curses which flew like arrows. Fan Xian’s ancestors on his father’s side became the targets.

A short moment later, the front gate suddenly creaked open. The mob quieted down. Seeing that the one who came out wasn’t the handsome youth Fan Xian, they rushed forward demanding that he come out.

The official who came out was Wang Qinian. He smiled and saluted the crowd, which came to a halt and put down whatever makeshift weapons they had brought. They were all ready to hear what this southerner had to say. Wang Qinian waved his hand and said gently, “Get them.”

A dozen people rushed out from behind Wang Qinian like tigers. Charging at the crowd, they were all wielding mops or other types of sticks. As soon as Wang Qinian gave out the order, Commander Wei realized things just became very bad and was about to say something. But Wang Qinian grabbed his arm with extreme friendliness, saying that if they had time afterwards, Commander Wei had to take them to the red-light district.

Hearing this, Commander Wei was speechless, while the rest of the guards were stunned. Their duty was to ensure the safety of the envoy, but they didn’t expect this envoy to be so strange, charging out with sticks—which side did they actually have to protect?

At that moment, a bustling scene unfolded. Sticks were waving in the air and there were many screams, some of which sounded like pigs being slaughtered.

Commander Wei raged, “Sir Wang, are you trying to make things even worse?”

“Nonsense. Do you think I wanted this?” Wang Qinian also became angry. “He cursed Commissioner Fan’s mother. Even though he’s only a little brat, I want to ask you: on our envoy’s first day in the capital, why are there so many people here asking for trouble? What are you Northern Qi planning?”

The screams continued. While the dozen people who rushed out had no blades, they were composed of four Tiger Guards and skilled members of the Overwatch Council. Beating some servants from a rich family was truly an unskilled thing to do.

“I don’t care if you curse my paternal ancestors.” Fan Xian walked out with Gao Da. Looking at the scene in front of him, he thought, “But I absolutely will not allow you to curse my mom and my grandmother.”